Photos of England, 2014-15.

[deyana]

I took quite a few photos of different things while I was in the UK. Here are a few I can share:

The local 'High' Street. Or main shopping area of town:






This man is from Afghanistan. One of many from elsewhere who have started up businesses in town:





An average every day street in the South East:





In a large mall I found this interesting way to dine. The conveyor belt had different dishes which turn around in a circle and you can pick out the one you like:





At the local Dockyard saw this old telephone box. I tried the phone but it no longer worked of course:





I've been here before and the last time I went on all the ships, including inside an old WW2 submarine. Most of them were not available to explore this time around:





Fort Amherst is an old Fort which has ancient tunnels that have been used as far back as Napoleon times. They are notoriously known to be haunted. A friend and I decided it was time to explore these tunnels.





I found the chalk walled tunnels to be very organized and well built for the purpose they had to serve. Injured soldiers would be wheeled over from the local Dockyard and taken to the hospital through these tunnels. Many men died here as the war raged on.







Pubs are for ever popular in England. This one is called 'The Old Ash Tree'





A quick visit to Ramsgate. Which is a sea-side town. Not quite the same in the winter time:





(Of course I just had to try out the fish and chips here in this town )



and as night draws in:




Two more of what you might see as you walk around:

[questa]

Deyana, an interesting set of pics. Your Afghani man and his brilliantly coloured display shows how arranging wares can be an art form in itself...great shot.

[Deleted]

That is a very odd mix of photos so far, which makes it all the more delightful, rather than seeing a succession of similar photos all from the same neighbourhood. However, I do have a question which I hope you will not find annoying. Did you mother and the other family members in England live in one of the so-called 'ethnic zones' (according to sources like Fox News) or was (is) the area where they live typically English? I am just wondering, because in Paris anything is possible -- there are some extremely ethnic zones according to the origin of the people (African, North African, Chinese, Indian...) and lots of areas where all of these groups can be found but much more 'diluted' into normal (?) French life.

People particularly outside Europe are always trying to categorize all of these things so that they can stick labels everywhere, so I would like to know how you see it -- especially since you are Canadian!

[deyana]

Hi Questa and Kerouac and thanks.

Questa, it made me wonder how long it must take these grocers to arrange and then re-arrange all these fruit and vegetables each day. Certainly are nicely done.

K2, yes, it is quite an odd mix. Unlike last time I just clicked here and there as I went along. Nowhere as many photos as last time either. I think though, as a result, I tended to see more, as I was not behind the camera all that much.

Your questions are never annoying, Kerouac, I welcome them.

In answer to your question, no my mom lived in an area that was mostly white folk and my sister lives in an street where her and her family are the only Indians there. I don't think there ever was a them and us area, at least in the town that I grew up in. Other towns in the UK definitely do have that divide. And in fact in the first town that my family lived in when we first moved to the UK that was very evident. In some ways and in some areas people are actually mixing more now then ever. So just like in Paris, it all depends. I think as time goes on the divide will be more of what financial class a person belongs to rather than what race or color.

Frankly many Indians in the UK are known to be, and actually are, quite well off, so they tend to live in the more upmarket areas of town. This was not always the case of course. I'm not sure how it is more up North of other areas of the UK, but in the South East, the area that I come from, there is now a big mix of all kinds of people, from all corners of the world. I noticed this much more this time around. Many of the businesses that were once owned by only English people are now being run by people from an assortment of different countries. England is more multicultural now than it has ever been. For instance, walking down the High street (or Main street), I cannot understand all the languages spoken. But it does make life interesting and I rather liked seeing this.

[mossie]

A very interesting selection, I was particularly struck by your first shot. A junk food wagon, a bookies and a charity shop. That sums up the state of our towns now with traditional shops closing down to be replaced by those. England has changed rapidly in the last 20 - 30 years with a big influx of migrants. I would also agree that foreigners are being more readily accepted, especially those who make an effort to become integrated. What really causes disaffection are those who insist on retaining their own way of life without thought for the locals, women in particular who cannot speak English. I am afraid I may come across as racist but anyone who has followed my ramblings will know that I was crewed up with a Polish pilot for several years, and we formed a close friendship.
Enough rambling

[deyana]

Hi mossie. No I don't see your comments as being racist, they are just your own opinion of what you have observed and you are entitled to it.

I just talk about things as I honestly see them. Well, I guess my mother was one of those elderly Indian women who hardly spoke any English. Should have that been remedied? Probably. But for whatever reason, and maybe just the fact that life was just so hard for these first influx of immigrants back in the 60's and 70's it never happened. Surviving was the most important thing for women of my mom's generation back then.

It made me feel sad that when I walked down the High Street I no longer see these elderly Indian women congregating to meet with their friends to just sit and reminiscence or talk about their their lives and families. Like my mother they have now mostly passed on. There are no Indian people in my circle or friends and family in the UK that do not speak English, they all now do. The new wave of immigrants that have come into the UK these last several years are from the Eastern Europe countries and Africa, not so much from the Far East, excluding refugees from places with conflicts and wars. Do they not speak English? From what I could tell they speak the language well. But they also speak their own languages too. I guess with time that will also change. It always does.

Because women tend to be more isolated they are always the last ones to learn to speak the language of the country. This would apply more so to the mothers and grandmothers I suppose. Maybe more needs to be done to make sure they also learn to speak English.

I found it interesting how well all these people from other places get along together, regardless of where they are from. They all want to be accepted and do well. I think integration is important and inevitable, how fast that happens can depend on how welcome they feel in the place they now call home and the facilitates available to them. Personally I was intrigued to learn more about where people had come from and why, but like Mossie, didn't want to appear racist by asking them too many questions. I do realize that some who have moved to the UK come from war torn countries and it can be a sensitive subject for them.

[nycgirl]

Very interesting photos, especially of the chalk tunnels. Would have been nice to see the inside of the submarine, too.

[deyana]

I do have some photos of it in another thread I made some years back, when I visited this place before nycgirl. And I have added a special one just for you this time around.

[deyana]

So a few more photos that I took here and there while out and about in England.

Another random street:





A large grocery store called 'Aldi'. I had never heard of this or Lidl before. But these large chains are everywhere now:





We have green buses in Kent. Red ones can be found in London. Both single and double decker:




Ramsgate Harbor after dusk:








You might remember this place from my last trip to England. I re-visited again. This is inside the Sikh Temple in a town called Gravesend. It is quite newly built. And is in fact the largest Sikh Temple in Europe. I believe it cost 12 million pounds to create. Much of the materials used to build this place were imported from other countries.





Christmas Time at a local mall:













Charles Dickens, being a local here from years back, is well represented in the area:





The same area, but another part of it:





The Old Dockyard still preserved. This building would be where the Admiral resided at one time:





The Old Ropery, very important in Ship building back then:









This track would take the trams to various parts of the Dockyard:



The Dockyard was actually closed when I went to visit. But the nice guard let me in anyway. But only to view. To actually go inside the ships and buildings I would have to wait until late February, when it opened again. I wasn't too bothered I had been here before some years back with my kids and we had been to every single ship and building here at the time.






And just for Nycgirl - A Submarine: This would have been used during WW2.









Do you know how much I wanted to get into this Helicopter and fly off?





Out on the road again:





























Seen outside of Fort Amherst:





I posted a few photos of the haunted tunnels within Fort Amherst before. Here are some more:

We are all led into the tunnels by our guide:













It must have been quite well organized, even underground. Everyone pitching in for the war effort:













There is a very deep water well in there:





Elsewhere now. Guess what this is?





So many trees like this one line the streets. Only branches left. More like stubs sticking out on a thick truck. All the pretty leaves and flowers gone. Why or why?



and a close up:





This place is run by a man who speaks English quite well, but is from another country. I did ask him where he was from. Either he didn't hear me or he ignored the question:





A rather personal picture in some ways. And you thought I wasn't going to add any of those types huh?
This here is the first house we lived in when we first came to the UK. We had a couple (and later on three) of the rooms on the first floor here for a while. The place still has that foreboding kind of atmosphere, it's quite ugly in appearance (still) and is still comprised of many apartments inside. I took the pictures and then couldn't wait to leave it behind:

Those two pillars would see a five year old me jumping from one to the other as I waited for my mother to come home from work each day:




A larger view of it:




This corner shop by the house was my inspiration of the title for my book called 'Three more pennies'. I wondered if the same lady still lived there. I doubted it. And then... I looked up at the top bedroom window and saw an old lady, smiling and waving at me. It was the creepiest thing I had seen in a while. Was it the same woman or not?





The stone wall is also still there. The one I would lean over to look at the rushing water below. The wall that my little friend accidentally fell over and downed all those years ago:



And that is all. Hope you found the photos interesting.

[Deleted]

So many trees like this one line the streets. Only branches left. More like stubs sticking out on a thick truck. All the pretty leaves and flowers gone. Why or why?

It's called pollarding. It's very popular in Europe as it keeps the trees' size under control. In the Spring the tree sprouts lots of branches and looks normal.

[nycgirl]

That is a pretty neat-looking sub. That helicopter, too. Would be a blast to take a ride in that.

WWII history is so fascinating. It's a topic well-covered by everyone from historians to Hollywood, but it never ceases to be interesting.

Thanks for sharing!

[htmb]

I especially liked your dockyard photos, Deyana, but all the others were quite interesting, too. Thank you for adding the personal information at the end. Very touching.

[Deleted]

I really like all of the random shots of 'this-and-that' because it lets me compare with other places. So much is the same and so much is different, the roundabouts, the malls, the shops, the shipyards, the row houses. I can imagine how you felt seeing the place you lived as a child because such places always do trigger all sorts of good and bad memories. I have a morbid fascination for such places because now when I go to see them, it's sort of like scenes from an old movie that I saw and whose plot is now a bit jumbled in my head.

[bjd]

The last time I went to England, I met up with my sister and we went to see the house we had lived in as children too. It was for sale, so looked rather sad. But I was 7 when we left so didn't have as specific memories as you, Deyana, about living there. Just bits and pieces, probably mostly remembered from photographs.

That submarine doesn't look high enough to hold normal height men! I must have been rather claustrophobic in there.

[deyana]

Thanks everyone.

lizzy, okay well that makes sense now. Glad the trees will be flowing again soon.

nycgirl, I find WW2 fascinating too. I think historians will still be talking about it 100 years from now.

htmb, The dockyard once employed many people. I once worked as a temp in the area where the families of Dockyard men once lived. (It's been torn down now). It was like a village of it's own within a town. Complete with schools, offices, houses, apartments etc. I was there just before they demolished it all. I wish I had taken photos of it then, but missed that opportunity at the time. Very creepy but extremely interesting.

K2 and bjd, yes so many memories come alive again when visiting our old haunts. I lived in that house from the age of 5 to 8 when we moved to another town. I was amazed that so little had changed. Even the little corner shop was still there. And so of course was the river at the end of the road.

bjd, I've been in that submarine a few years back, it had tiny living quarters inside. Definitely not for the claustrophobic! But it was all quite functional.

[lugg]

I too liked your report too Deyana. I do not know this part of England at all.

Aldi and Lidl are German invasions but a welcome one for many people

[Deleted]

And we have them in France, too, just for perspective.

[deyana]

Mar 29, 2015 6:47:27 GMT lugg said:

I too liked your report too Deyana. I do not know this part of England at all.

Aldi and Lidl are German invasions but a welcome one for many people

Arh.. right.  That is what I have learned.

Things move along so fast, each time I am in the UK, something else has changed.

I may be adding to this thread at a later date, as my son and his dad will be in the UK/Europe for the month of August. 

[Deleted]

It has been a wild ride of variety so far, and I just hope that it continues.

[deyana]

Certainly makes life interesting, Kerouac

So much happening in the UK and the world itself, hard to keep up with it all.

And as for my life, sometimes I feel like it's not my own. But it's a roller-coaster ride that I am enjoying.

[anshjain97]

I don't think I've seen this thread before- indeed, very eclectic mix of photos.

Apart from the Christmas tree at the mall, I can't notice any other decorations, such as on the streets or houses. Am I missing something?

[deyana]

Decorations, Ansh? Do you mean for Christmas? Must admit, not many had lights and trees sparkling away in their windows. A few did, but not many.

I had a feeling that people were just not in the mood to celebrate last Christmas. Certainly my own extended family did not.

Different in London of course.  The decorations always go up there.